Page 35 of Declan (Gold Team #5)

True to her word, Autumn was showered, dressed, and ready to go in less than ten minutes.

I’d left her to fix herself a travel mug of coffee and went to do the same—get ready, that was.

By the time I was back, she was waiting at the door, and with a sexy smirk, she handed me a pink to-go mug of coffee.

I took it and opened the door. When her house filled with her husky laugh, I decided I’d drink out of a pink mug for the rest of my life if it amused her.

Hell, yes, I was fully on board with this laughing gig.

Conversation on the way to the office stayed light and dare I say it—normal. Two people making plans for dinner. I decided I was taking her out to downtown Annapolis, to which she replied, “Works for me.”

Easy.

Normal.

And so fucking sweet I was going to work my ass off to keep us going on that path.

The only pall was, I couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d asked about our jobs.

I could be, and often was, called to leave without notice.

She did her own thing, but I’d read the reports on her and she played the long game, often working a mark for months.

She did her own recon, planning, and executed the play.

That meant she could be gone for months, me for weeks, and as much as I didn’t want the separation, I seriously didn’t want her traipsing around the world plotting deaths and rescues.

Call me selfish but she’d been through enough.

She’d saved lives but also taken them, and that marks a person.

And damn if I didn’t know there were only so many hash marks a person could take before they shrivel up and nothing was left.

I was nearing that point. And didn’t want Autumn anywhere close to what I felt.

But that was a discussion for another day. Tonight, I was taking my woman out and we were going to enjoy a slice of normalcy.

We were in the elevator when she asked, “Does Zane own the whole building?”

“Yep. The basement is used as an armory, first floor reception, second floor the offices, third floor Zane’s office. Ivy has one next to his and Linc has one up there, too. Fourth floor is gear. And the roof has a landing pad.”

Autumn gave a low whistle. “I’ve heard rumors about Zane and what he charges, also heard there’s a reason he gets away charging what he does. He never fails. But this building and everything I saw yesterday…damn.”

Zane Lewis was loaded. Autumn was not wrong, Z charged a mint for his services and she was right again about why he got to charge what he did. Zane didn’t fail. There was a reason for that—he only employed the best and he paid us accordingly.

“If I tell you a secret, you promise not to tell?”

Autumn looked up at me, a grin firmly in place, and I liked that a hell of a lot. Her smiling and me teasing her .

I didn’t think there’d ever been a time when I’d teased a woman, not even when they were girls and I was a boy.

“Do we need to make a pinky promise? Maybe prick our fingers and make a blood pact?”

Fuck yeah, I was totally down with this teasing shit, too.

“Men don’t make pinky promises.”

“They don’t?”

“Fuck no, we give our word, and a man that’s worth anything understands his word is unbreakable.”

“Then I give you my word, Declan. That is, if that macho shit translates to a woman being any sort of woman, she knows her word is unbreakable.”

I felt my lips hitch up into a smile and I asked, “Macho shit?”

“There’s more testosterone running through you than ten regular men.

Add in every other man walking around this place, and it’s macho overload.

I’m surprised you all don’t wear bear pelts, go shirtless, and carry clubs.

Though, just saying, if y’all decide to try that one day don’t forget to invite me. ”

The bear pelt comment was cute, the wanting an invite to see my brothers shirtless, not so much.

“You gonna tell me this secret before the doors open?”

“Only if you take back wanting to see my team half-naked.”

“Oh, I see, we’ve digressed to take-backs like in middle school.”

I didn’t have the first clue what she was talking about. By the time I was in middle school, I was an asshole who had detention most days.

“The Omni case? That came straight out of Zane’s pocket. Zero billable hours. The President asked for a personal favor and Zane set us on the task.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

Autumn’s intelligent eyes held mine and I hoped like fuck the doors opened before she drew the conclusion I knew she was close to puzzling together.

“And let me guess, knowing Zane wasn’t billing meant the rest of you worked off the books.”

And there you had it. Too smart.

The doors slid open and I ushered her out of the elevator, pleased as fuck to find Max waiting on us.

“Slippin’, Crenshaw, you’re the last one here.”

That was a change. I was normally the one giving the guys shit about taking for-freaking-ever to get to the office when Zane called a meeting.

And now I understood why.

Before I could come up with a smartass comeback, I heard Zane bellow, “Get your asses in here!”

“You heard His Royal Highness.” I jerked my head in the direction of the conference room.

“There’s something different about you,” Max mumbled.

“I heard that, fucker, so unless you wanna see what my crown feels like up your ass, double-time it.”

“Someone’s in a mood,” I called back.

“A man gets in a mood when he’s up all night dealing with a pain in his ass instead of in bed with his wife.”

Whatever . Zane was full of shit—he was always in a mood, sleeping next to his wife made no difference.

The three of us made our way into the room. Brooks, Thad, and Kyle were seated, Zane was pacing.

His eyes came to mine and they narrowed.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? Nothing. What’s wrong with you?”

Zane continued to stare at me. Then he smiled, full-on-dimples-out smile. I groaned, Autumn giggled, and I froze. My gaze sliced to hers, and thankfully, I didn’t miss the accompanying beam of happiness rolling off of her .

Good Lord, I was not a man prone to fanciful thoughts, I didn’t wax poetic about sun rays and flying unicorns, but I swear to God, Autumn’s face was lit so bright, looked so open, so free, that it took my breath.

“I told you so.” Zane chuckled. “Told you you were not looking for a sweet wallflower. And by the look of you, that fall was long but I bet it was damn soft when you landed.”

“Jesus,” I muttered. “Ivy’s making you soft.”

“I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, the last thing that woman makes me is soft.

What she makes me is a lucky bastard. Every day I wake up knowing I don’t deserve her but I’m damn happy.

Every night I get into bed next to her and I know my sorry ass did one thing right—I took that fall.

I see you took our advice and sorted yourself out.

So I’m gonna give you one more. When the next door opens, grab your woman and take it. ”

“Fuck me.”

“That, brother, is not an offer I’m gonna take you up on. But I am gonna get your woman’s ass out of a sling, so let’s get to it.”

“Why is my ass in a sling?” Autumn asked.

I heard Thad chuckle and I looked at him staring at Autumn smiling.

“Tex would like a word.”

“I get that, but I don’t understand why he’d be pissed at me.”

“He’s not. But it seems you’ve been holding out on your girl, Beth. She’s the one you’re gonna have to worry about.”

Before Autumn could say more Zane’s phone rang. He tapped the screen, entered in his ridiculously long security code, the only one of us that had a device that encrypted, and finally answered.

“Tex. You’re on speaker. The team’s here.”

“And Autumn?” Tex inquired.

I felt her stiffen next to me, and without thought, I put my arm around her and pulled her to my side. I was not expecting her to wrap hers around my back and hold on.

“Yeah, she’s here, too.”

“Good. I have Beth on the line.”

The room went quiet and Autumn remained solid.

“Autumn?” Beth called.

“Hey, Beth, listen. I had no idea you were involved with Tex—”

“I know you didn’t,” Beth cut her off. “I didn’t mention him and I know he didn’t mention me.

Most of the time, that separation works in our favor.

And we don’t work every client together.

Case in point—you. I didn’t know he was running you or I could’ve saved him a lot of time.

Unlucky for him, he taught me well and I buried your stuff deep.

No worries about that. Tex and I talked and we came up with a new system.

Which is the point of this call. Now that we’ve shared, I have some concerns. ”

“And those are?”

“Ashaki.”

“Shit,” Autumn muttered.

A dull roar started in my head and I was powerless to stop the tension from taking over my muscles. If Autumn was in danger, I was locking her up and going hunting.

“Shit about covers it. I didn’t know her real name is Amie Shapiro. You did, and when Zane passed that intel to Tex, we ran her. The story she told you about Barny Pollaski was mostly true but she left out a few details.”

The vibe in the room changed, this change mostly coming from Autumn.

“And those details would be?” Autumn seethed.

“Pollaski wasn’t a stranger. Ash’s dad worked with him laundering his money, and before you ask, yes, her mother knew and helped,” Tex told her.

“I didn’t find that when I looked into her. ”

Autumn sounded like she was highly disappointed in herself and a whole lot hurt her friend had betrayed her.

“She didn’t want you to, Autumn,” Beth rejoined. “She gave you her real name so you’d find what she wanted you to find, and that was an ally. But also she needed you, so she gave you what you needed and exploited it.”

“I’m…um…I don’t know what the fuck I am,” Autumn hissed. “She lied to me.”

There was a loud knock on the door and Garrett barged in. His angry eyes went directly to Zane. The room went from pissed to wired. Brooks, Thad, Kyle, and Max all stood.

“Natasha’s gone,” Garrett announced.

“I’ll track her watch,” Tex said.

“No need. I already did. It lost signal. Last coordinates are Seven River Bridge.”

“Send me her picture and I’ll check traffic cams in the area,” Beth put in.

“We got bigger issues. When Owen called in to tell me Natasha was gone, I checked his security cameras. I’m not a hundred percent, she’s wearing a hat, kept to the shadows, face turned away, but I have a profile that looks a lot like—”

“Ashaki,” Autumn finished for Garrett.

“Where are we with finding out why Maloof was in Annapolis in the first place?” Zane barked.

“Still digging,” Tex answered.

“She wasn’t in contact with me about going to Maryland,” Beth added.

“Ash wasn’t watching Declan, she was watching Natasha. Who is this woman?” Autumn inquired.

“She was rescued in Alaska with Eva. No home. Won’t give up a last name. Won’t say where she came from. Just know she was sold.”

“Ash wouldn’t hurt a victim.” Autumn relaxed.

“You sure about that?” Max asked. “Knowing what you know now.”

“No.” Autumn paled and wrenched her eyes closed. “I’m not sure about anything anymore.”

Fucking, fucking , fuck .

“Where’s Blue Team?” Zane barked.

“On their way in.”

“Where are we with Natasha’s DNA?”

“Still waiting on results.” Zane sliced Garrett with a look that would shrivel the balls of a lesser man.

“Goddamn clusterfuck,” Zane grouched.

“Tex, you have information on Natasha?” Beth asked.

“We’ll run this on our end, keep in touch.” Tex disconnected and Zane looked around the room.

“I want that woman found,” Zane growled.

“Do you know of any places Ashaki uses in Baltimore?” Thad inquired.

“No. But she likes to take her time, so you’ll be looking for a place that gives her that.

In the past, she’s found housing tracks that were new builds, no occupants in any of the houses.

Abandoned warehouses, office buildings. She doesn’t care as long as she has time to get all the information she needs before she takes ‘em out.”

“Motherfucker!”

Autumn jumped and we both turned to find Owen outside of the door.

“Brother,” Max warned.

“Silver lining to that is, if the bitch likes to play, we have time.”

Autumn didn’t have a damn thing to say about Zane calling Ashaki a bitch. Not surprising. What was surprising was Owen’s response.

“There’s no goddamn silver lining. I promised Nat she’d be safe and she was snatched from my fucking living room. I want Nat found and that woman put down once and for all.”

Autumn had nothing to say to that, either.

Not verbally, but when her arm around me got tight, I knew she was at war.

Part of her not wanting to believe a trusted friend would harm an innocent woman and part of her feeling the sting of betrayal so deep she knew Ashaki was indeed capable of doing just that.

Complete clusterfuck.